NKorea releases Iran’s frozen assets

TEHRAN: Iran’s chief banker said on Saturday that the Republic of Korea (ROK) has released all Iranian funds frozen in its banks.

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Mohammad Reza Farzin made the remarks in a post on X, previously known as Twitter, elaborating on the unfreezing process of Iran’s frozen assets abroad.

He said Iran has funds worth nearly $7 billion deposited in South Korean won in ROK’s banks over the past years, with no interest paid.

The Iranian chief banker noted that the funds shrank by close to $1 billion in value due to the depreciation of the won against the dollar.

Farzin stressed that the frozen assets have been released entirely and converted into euro, with the exchange service fees covered by a third country.

He added that those funds, after being transferred to accounts in six Iranian banks in Qatar, would be used for purchasing non-sanctioned goods through banking payment systems, noting that the frozen assets in several other countries would also be released soon.

On Friday, Mohammad Jamshidi, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, said in a post on X that the US prisoners in Iran will leave simultaneously with the release of illegally held Iranians in the US and the full transfer of frozen Iranian assets in ROK.